Page 5264 - Week 16 - Thursday, 28 November 1991
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It is unfortunate that the violation of fundamental human rights continues to be widespread. It is, however, the notion of human rights that is our greatest weapon against abuse and repression. As Victor Hugo has said:
A stand can be made against invasion by an army; no stand can be made against invasion by an idea.
In the fight in Yugoslavia for independent republics and the struggle by East Timorese for self-determination, many have suffered, and indeed many Australians of Yugoslavian and Timorese descent share this suffering. The protection of human rights is a universal responsibility and by publicly declaring support for these people's right to self-determination we go some way towards alleviating that suffering.
I, therefore, will be supporting Mr Collaery's motion and, obviously, the amendment. Mr Speaker, I quote from a book called Every Right - Australia and Global Human Rights, in which the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gareth Evans, says:
Australia insists that human rights know no boundaries.
It is such a true statement. I just hope that the Minister follows through with those words and acts upon Mr Collaery's motion.
MR MOORE (3.51): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I think this is a very timely and appropriate motion. It seems to me that every thinking person has spent the last while really wondering exactly what we are doing, particularly in respect of East Timor; and we have watched the situation in Yugoslavia unfold over some time. We cannot help wondering what could have been achieved in both of those cases if people's protests had been gone about in an active and peaceful way. We have also seen the contrast between what has happened in the Soviet Union and what has happened between Serbia and Croatia, with a great deal of sadness, I think. If only people could learn to resolve these sorts of problems without recourse to arms.
One of the great leaders in the world that we have watched, of course, was Gandhi in India. He was able to bring about so much change there through peaceful non-violent protest. We have seen similar things happen in other countries. It seems to me, though, that our "appeasement", as Mr Collaery calls it, of Indonesia as far as the East Timor situation goes is simply unsatisfactory. He is quite correct in suggesting that we need to send a message to the Federal Government that we need to take a stand on this. That stand does not have to be, as was implied by Mr Stefaniak, a militaristic stand. There are many other ways of sending a very clear message to our near neighbours that this is something that is entirely unsatisfactory, and the message should ensure that the response to the United Nations position on self-determination for East Timor is a matter of priority.
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